Topic: Having a job vs. having a life

..Or what to do when you are.. well, to make a long story short, I study by night, work by day, which makes for an average 65 hours a week.

I am a consultant, on a cool mission.

I love my job, love many of my customers, do it dearly, patiently, but my boss (the one inside the client company) is putting a useless pressure on me.
Useless and at the edge of what a boss has the right to do. Well, beyond that edge...

Anyway, it is going past my limits: we have three shifts, 7:30 AM / 8:30 AM / 9:30 AM.
On Mondays and Wednesdays, I start at 7:30 because of my nightly classes, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, at 9AM to have some time to actually sleep and recover.
My boss has decided to force a monthly, unique shift per person which is... the opposite of the purpose of such a shift.

Which will force me to always, always wake up at 6AM, regardless of my classes which end at 10PM. (12 hours work with only a few pauses and six hours to sleep, most of the rest are transports).
Which will force the other persons in my team to accept later shifts, not convenient to them.


If he was only constantly and publicly insulting me, picking on me, displaying jealousy towards excellent relationship with users
(have received lots of gifts so far), he'd be enough of a pain in the ass.

But what is in question here is my right to conciliate nightly studies with my mission... although studying software engineering
"might" be a benefit to the company.
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So the dilemma here, and I have gotten ready to do it, is: do I say "sayonara f**ers" and quit this position I love,
for the sake of being able to study, or do I keep bowing down before the one I serve (I heard it would get me what I deserve)?

Have you tried just explaining to him your schedule? I know there are a lot of dickheads out there, but in my experience most of them don't actually mean to be dickheads...they're just dickheads, they don't realize it.

In the spirit of what reisio said, I think there might be somebody between you and your boss that will understand your schedule and "cover" you. I know having somebody covering sounds so wrong, but it's often the only option available in a work environment.

Not that it will really help you, but I do sympathize with you. I've been in your shoes for 3 years. One of my previous boss(es?) 'dared' to blame me for leaving work at 4pm. The thing he didn't get was that I had been working for 30 hours in a row. The only I wanted to tell him was to STFU. But the people I worked with and the thing I did there were worth staying there. So I, and many others, learnt to ignore this moron. And you know what ? It paid. Now I work with people who appreciate what I do.



Btw, in which year/stage are you in your studies ?

It's all about what's important to you, and what you are willing/able to bear.

I hate to say it, but sometimes...that's just the way it goes. You have to decide whether what you will get from it in the long run is worth what you are going through temporarily. Because, most importantly, you have to remember: it is temporary (temporary being, of course, a relative term )

Of course, it would be wise to listen to reisio's comment. The worst they can do is turn you down

quote:

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_Mauro said:

But what is in question here is my right to conciliate nightly studies with my mission... although studying software engineering
"might" be a benefit to the company.
-----------------------------------------

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considering 'company' as the key word here -

you should consider yourself as your own company -

and ask yourself seriously -

am I only in it for the money?

or

was 'mission' the key word?

ed: says maybe you should look into relaxation techniques/yadayada etc,. . .to make the most of the time you have for such - yah?

(Edited by outcydr on 12-02-2005 03:36)

If you're your own company, go with what outcydr said.

If you're an employee of a consulting firm, take it up with your firm. Even if the client cannot understand that what benefits you benefits them, the consulting firm may. After all, if they lose you, they have two problems: 1) replacing a valuable asset and 2) dealing with an unhappy client.

Thankyous, great way to vent and get some advice:

- Have you tried just explaining to him your schedule?
Yes, he went "are we going to fuck up the homogeneity of this new schedule for Mr Mauro? You can always pick the 7:30 on a permanent basis..."

So I have a sneaking suspicion that he actually is a dickhead, and proud of it at that.

- I think there might be somebody between you and your boss that will understand your schedule and "cover" you.
Informed the consulting group, who showed understanding... in words. I don't trust words at this point in my life: actions, actions, actions are all that matters.
The fact I mentionned my confidence in my employers was decreasing helped them show understanding... In Switzerland, if the confidence between an employer and his employee
is destroyed, any of the parties can immediately revoke the contract and I could then claim for a couple of months salary, without actualling working to get it.

An extreme measure but...

- and ask yourself seriously -
am I only in it for the money?

No, I am in for personal growth. Is standing the idiocies of a boss who does not qualify anymore and is afraid of retirememt a way to personal growth?

Some people report I have a low stress tolerance or conflict tolerance... the facts, though, show I have huge amounts of patience and will, years of studies
by night alone account for that.

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The only thing is: will I give up on a job I otherwise like for the sake of protecting myself from a couple of retards?
I'll see what the consulting company comes up with, see how things are going, but... a boss acting up + the schedule + the constant learning process +
tensions in my class due to some personal stuff (past affair with the only girl there)... it's more a matter of being able to stand it in the long run.

It's heavy.

As I said, I got plenty of good advice already, but the questions asked will take me some time to figure out. For the time being, let's give it a try.

Suck it up and take it, schooling isnt going to go on forever. If you can hack it anyway.

I was in year 12 here doing what we call VCE and working 3 jobs, you have to put effort in to get ahead in life *in most cases*. So its pretty simple, if you can handle it, just do it it will be over before you know it. If you cant put up with it for a few years then you have to make a choice.

On the same note however, dont let people take advantage of you or push you round - stand up for yourself.

Sure its hard sometime other people having fun etc, but its like most things in life - the grass is always greener.

IMO anyway

And the facts have led me to the very same conclusion. PM bring me a more than decent salary, advantages, experiences, and contacts a plenty,
and the challenge of standing the retards, being a challenge, is rewarding per se

I am stronger than that, f* hell!

Good for you! Have a good christmas